the tree-trunk club to bear against Baccio's face.
The broken monster flew away, crashing into the far wall. Still, Baccio reached around to his back, reached for the spike, the manifestation of Cadderly's will, which the young priest had driven into his back.
Cadderly's corporeal form shuddered then as the priest came back to the Material Plane. He moved deliberately, mercilessly. He reached for his hat, then changed his mind and went instead for a fold in his traveling cloak, a pocket he had sewn into the cloak during his weeks in the cave on the northern side of the Snow-flakes, producing a thin, dark wand. Cadderly shook his head as he considered the instrument - over the weeks of idleness and during the excitement of the last day, he had nearly forgotten about this wand. Advancing on Bac-cio, the wand's tip leading the way, the young priest said calmly, "Mas illu."
A myriad of bright colors exploded from the wand, every color of the spectrum.
"Ouch!" Pikel wailed, blinded by the explosion, as were all of Cadderly's friends. Cadderly, too, saw spots behind his eyelids, but he did not relent. "Mas illu," he said again, and the wand complied, spewing forth another colorful burst of light.
To the friends, the bursts were optically painful but otherwise benign, but to the vampire, they were pure agony. Baccio tried to recoil from the explosions, tried to curl into a little ball and hide, to no avail. The shower of lights clung to him, attacked his undead form with the fury of hot sparks. To a living creature, the spark shower could only blind; to an undead monster, the shower could burn.
"Mas illu" Cadderly said a third time, and by the time the last burst ended, Baccio sat limply against the wall, staring at Cadderly with pure hatred and pure impotence. Cadderly put away the wand and pulled the holy symbol down from his head. He walked up to stand before the wounded vampire and calmly, methodically, placed the glowing symbol on Baccio's broken face.
The vampire's trembling hand came up and clasped Cadderly's wrist, but the young priest didn't wavac He held firm his symbol and intoned a prayer to Deneir as he struck repeatedly with his ram's-headed walking stick, thoroughly destroying the monster.
Cadderly turned about to see his four friends staring at him incredulously, amazed by the sheer, unbridled fury of the display.
Pikel moaned, and the end of his club dropped limply to the floor.
Shayleigh grimaced against the pain as she regarded Cadderly. Her right shoulder was badly torn, and the wheezing in her voice told Cadderly that Baccio's beating had probably broken a few ribs and collapsed one of her lungs. He went to her immediately, without saying a word, and sought the distant song of Deneir.
The melody's flow was not strong this time; Cadderly could not seek the higher levels of clerical power. The day was young, but he was already tired, he realized, so he accepted the weakness and found his way instead to minor spells of healing, pressing his hands gently but firmly against Shayleigh's ribs and then her shoulder.
Cadderly came back to full consciousness to find the elf resting more easily, the magic already knitting the wounds.
"You did not find Danica," Shayleigh reasoned, her voice determined but trembling from her pain and weakness. It was obvious to them all that she needed rest and could not go on.
Cadderly shook his head, confirming the elf's fears. He looked plaintively to the bed, to the serene form of his lost love. "She is not undead, though," he offered, more to bolster himself than the others.
"She escaped," Shayleigh agreed.
"Danica should not be in this place," Cadderly said. He looked determinedly to each of his friends. "We must take her from here."
The mausoleum is clear," Shayleigh offered.
Cadderly shook his head. "Farther," he said. "We will take her to Carradoon. There, away from the darkness of Kierkan Rufo, I can better tend your wounds, and can put Danica to rest." 路 His voice broke as he finished the thought.
"No!" Ivan said unexpectedly, drawing Cadderly's attention.
"We're not for leaving!" the dwarf argued. "Not now, not while the sun's in the sky. Rufo got her, and he'll get another if we walk away. Yerself can go if ye need to, but me and me brother are staying."
"Oo oi!"
"We'll pay that one back for Danica, don't ye doubt!" Ivan finished.
Pay that one back. The sentiment bounced about Cadderly's thoughts for a while, gaining momentum and imparting strength. Pay that